Archives of IT (AIT) has named Tola Sargeant as its Chief Executive Officer to spearhead the charity’s aims to capture, preserve and share the voices of people from the UK IT and Telecommunications industry and inspire the next generation.
Tola joins AIT at a pivotal time in the young charity’s history, which was established in 2015 to record the stories of pioneering information technologists and engineers and house them online as a free resource for all. In 2024 AIT published its 250th interview and in the past four years has created more than 40 school lesson plans, activities and assemblies to motivate young students.
Tola encapsulates AIT’s mission of Capturing the Past, Inspiring the Future having been a trustee since 2021 and has spent the past three decades analysing the IT sector with a deep knowledge of, and interest in, both the history of tech in the UK and its future.
Background
Much of her working life has been spent talking to, and working with, senior leaders from across the UK tech market, most recently as Chief Executive at TechMarketView. While there, from 2009 to 2024, she launched and led its successful PublicSectorViews research stream and worked closely with both suppliers and public sector organisations, providing insight on the market and advising on strategy before being promoted to Managing Director.
Before this she was Practice Leader at Ovum (now Omdia), an independent analyst and consultancy firm, from 2002 to 2009, where she led its Geographies & Industries practice, with responsibility for government and healthcare IT research globally.
Tola is also a member of the Prince’s Trust Technology Leadership Group, where she chaired the business development sub-group for the charity, helping to secure much needed funds, and is now working with the trust’s the Digital Skills sub-group where there will be more of a cross-over with AIT’s objectives.
As well as this, Tola is an active supporter of the Greenpower Education Trust, which inspires young people into STEM through designing, building and running electric cars.
Exciting time for AIT
She said: “I am thrilled to be taking on the CEO role at Archives of IT at such an exciting time in the charity’s development. As a trustee at AIT since 2021, I have seen first-hand how its mission – Capturing the Past, Inspiring the Future – has grown over recent years.
“Through AIT’s rich oral history archive, original educational resources and varied events, there is an emphasis on inspiring and exciting students, particularly young women, about the opportunities open to them in the tech and digital sector, while raising awareness of the IT industry’s history and importance to the UK’s future.
“I am also delighted to have the opportunity to work with the chair of trustees, John Carrington and founder, Roger Graham, and the team to continue delivering on AIT’s mission as the sector evolves at pace – it has never been more important that we inspire and equip the next generation to take up the mantle of innovation in IT.”
AIT is governed by a board of trustees, who are senior and authoritative participants in the field of information technology and telecommunications, and is chaired by John Carrington, who spent 40 years in the telecoms industry and was the first MD of BT’s cellular project in May 1983 and was behind the launch of Cellnet two years later as one of the UK’s first mobile phone networks.
Unique insight
He said: “I am delighted to welcome Tola to Archives of IT as our new CEO. Tola has been a valued trustee of the charity for more than three years bringing a unique insight, as CEO of TechMarketView, to people in the UK who are movers and shakers in today’s IT market. AIT is equally focused on contemporary business leaders as those who have achieved success in the past. All experiences need to be captured for the Archive to inform our work with schools to inspire students to consider IT as a career.
“Tola will take over from Tom Abram who has tirelessly managed the day-to-day development of AIT over many years and since 2021 as Executive Director. Tom has done a great job in creating three strong themes to AIT’s work: the interviews, IT career focused programmes for primary schools and research by universities into the volume of experiences captured by our archive.”
The next 12 months promise to be a transformative period for AIT as it consolidates what it has achieved over the past nine years and increases its levels of engagement with its current and new audiences.
